Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Hi Guys,

I really appreciate what you have going here. It has been very helpful to me. I have a PPC6700 and it is having random hardware issues so I am considering upgrading to a 6800 bought off of ebay. If I buy a 6800 from, say, Sprint that is CDMA could I simply load a new ROM and activate it on my Alltel account? Or do I need to unlock it? Is there anything else I need to do before just loading the ROM?

I'm trying to determine if I need to just buy an Alltel phone or if any PPC6800 would do as long as it is CDMA since that si what Alltel uses.

Thanks in advance,

Jon

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

if your on alltel get an alltel phone with a clear ESN. cause then you dont have to do anything but load a newer official release. and when u unlock it.... the carriers dont like it very much...

~chevy

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

I appreciate the response but that sort of didn't answer my real question. I'm sure they don't like you unlocking the phone from another carrier and bringing it to their service because it cuts into their profits. What I'm wondering is...

1. Is it necessary to unlock a phone from another carrier if they have the same radio and such or can you simply flash a new rom with Alltel's cab included?
2. Will Alltel use the phone (whether they like it or not) since it is the same technology or will I be unable to use the phone with Alltel because of xx reason?

Thanks,

Jon

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Alltel will check the ESN and a lot of the time they will not add the phone if it isn't listed as there ESN.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Ok, so I found a great deal on a couple of Verizon 6800's so I bought them. I checked the ESN's with Alltel and they said they would activate them.

Now I read in the official unlock/custom rom thread and got a bit scared due to it talking about not using the unlock software with a version 2.xx ROM which my Device Information Control Panel reports is my version. It also talks in that thread about upgrading the GPS radio after unlocking. Is it talking about a software update or physically changing the hardware radio? That's scary stuff to me.

Bottom line is that I know enough that I have been updating the software ROM on my old 6700 using the kitchen for a while but this unlocking bit and the process behind it has me worried I will trash the phone. Peace of mind would be greatly appreciated.

Jon

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Go through the directions carefully and don't skip any steps and you will be ok. Make sure you read them a couple times to understand them fully and make sure you have everything downloaded you will need. It is a piece of cake if you follow the directions.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Ok, I followed all of the directions and upgraded my bootloader, radio and ROM. Even though I selected Alltel fro the carrier when cooking the ROM, and it shows Alltel when dialing data, when you dial *228 you get a Verizon prompt still.

Alltel was happy to activate it but because I can't dial *228 and get through to the Alltel service instead of Verizon, I can;t complete the Alltel activation process.

I feel like I am in the home stretch and would love it if anybody could help me get this resolved. Thanks much in advance!

Jon

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Sounds like a EPST problem but I am no expert. ##778 then send to enter EPST. My "NAM Name" is VZW, I guess yours is to since it was a verizon phone maybe this needs to be changed. Sorry I don't know what to change but I think you might start looking at EPST settings.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Thanks, I will search around for that now that I know what to look for. If you happen to learn anything else that you think would be helpful to me, the help is greatly appreciated.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

You need a Alltel PRL. http://corolada.com/prl/

##778 and send
Edit
000000 is the code
View Info then PRL
Edit PRL - Browse device for PRL you downloaded
Apply, and the phone will reset.

Not for sure on these directions or if this is the problem since I haven't done it but it seems right. Proceed at your own risk.

Edit: Ok hold everything it might be the PRI that is the problem. I don't know anymore. I guess this is a subject I need more research in.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

You're a lifesaver man. Thanks so much. I got the Verizon phones running on the Alltel network and all is good.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Verizon and Alltel are now one in the same. Are there still Alltel customers centers open?

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

glad you got it working. What did you actually do to fix the problem?

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Yes, while they are technically the same company now, they are still operating independently in many ways. They have separate billing systems still and it wasn't until two days ago that Alltel customers could call Verizon customers for free. I have been told that in June perhaps my area will be completely transitioned.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

I followed GaMedic's step by step thread at http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=33857 exactly . I was confused at first because I thought that the radio upgrade they mentioned was a hardware change which was a bit intimidating.

I also learned through a bunch of forum research that placing any ROM on a microSD card of 2GB or less and renaming it to TITAIMG.nbh will allow the phone to upgrade to that ROM directly from the SD card when put into boot loader mode. This is the method I used primarily because I run OSX and flashing through VMWare and a USB cable was inconsistent and frustrating.

Here's what I did exactly:

1. I downloaded the updated boot loader from GaMedic's thread. I went with OliPro because of my USB connection issues.
2. After installing HARD-SPL-MFG.exe I pulled Hard_MFG_SPL_2.40_RUU_signed.nbh from C:\ttn240mfg and copied it to my SD card as TITAIMG.nbh and upgraded my phone.
3. Upgraded the radio to 3.42.40 by downloading the zip file from GaMedic's thread which only contained a TITAIMG.nbh file. Copied i to my SD card and upgraded my phone.
4. Downloaded the BuildOS kitchen and cooked an Alltel ROM
5. I then copied RUU_signed.nbh from C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\hIq Inc\PPC-BuildOS\9.05.3.0Temp onto my memory card and renamed it TITAIMG.nbh and upgraded my phone's OS
6. Downloaded a PRL file from corolada.com. At first I was unsure which to choose until I realized that the numbers were revision numbers. So I grabbed the latest from Alltel under EVDO phones which ended up being 30034. (May not be 100% correct because there is a special devices section that could have applied as well but it seems to have worked.)
7. Copied the SPL file to my SD card.
8. Dialed ##778# to enter EPST mode.
9. Selected Edit from the menu that appeared and entered 000000 for the unlock code.
10. Selected the View Info menu and then PRL
11. The first item in the list was the PRL. I pressed and held over that item and a context menu came up with the only option being Edit, which I selected.
12. I browsed for the PRL file on my SD card and selected it then hit OK until it asked if I wanted to save my changes, which I did and the phone reset.
13. I called Alltel and explained that I had a new phone but the web site was not allowing me to enter the ESN number. The operator asked me what phone I had and when i told her she said that she was unable to change ESN's to smartphones on the web site. I gave her the new ESN and she changed my account over and had me dial *228 and choose number 3 which then activated the phone on the Alltel network.

Other than all of that I spent a lot of time recooking ROM's because of software conflicts with the software I was including from the kitchen. All seems well though. The only problem I haven't resolved is that I thought this phone had GPS built in and yet even with the upgraded radio it still looks for an external GPS radio or something. Haven't gotten it to link up with a satellite at all.

Thanks again for your help. Without it I would have been trying to find and manually change each EPST setting because I didn't even know about the PRL files that were available.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Do you know what version of Verizon rom you had below you went custom. If you had MR1 then gps is locked out. So you have to downgrade back to a nongps stock Verizon rom. Then flash custom again. What program are you using to test gps I use gpsviwer or htc gps tool. Make sure the gps settings are correct and location is on.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

I have no idea what version it was. I bought these off of ebay where I think the original owner had bought them together from a Verizon store or something because the ESN numbers were only 2 away from each other. Nothing custom was ever done to them that I could tell and I was only ever concerned about getting off of Verizon so I didn't look for where they were at originally, nor would I have even known how to be honest.

I'm a bit confused why you would say for me to downgrade back to a nongps Verizon image and then flash custom again. What would that do for me exactly?

As for the program I used, I tried the VisualGPS one (or whatever that was called) and the htc gps tool and one other one. I just ran them and tried to figure out how to get a lock. I don't really know enough yet about GPS on the phones because I have never owned one that had GPS on it so I don't know what to do to make sure the GPS settings are correct and the location is on as you suggested.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Well I know there is a alltel gps thread here so check that out. I say you have to downgrade because the new version pri blocks gps. So downgrading to a old pri removes the block and then you can reflash the new gps radio and rom.

Re: Confused about whether unlocking is necessary...
 

Ok, I didn't realize you were talking about the PRL when you said ROM. That was my confusion point. I understand what you mean now. I'll check out the other thread in a bit. This has all been such a big ordeal I am glad to just have a working phone on my account again so I can get some work done. I do want to get GPS working at some point though so I will update this thread as I learn more.